Dr Marion Merklein serves as Chair of Manufacturing Technology and Dean of Technical Faculty of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU).

She studied materials science with a focus on general material characteristics, corrosion and surface technology at FAU, where she earned her doctorate in 2001. Her research includes sheet-bulk metal forming focusing on lightweight materials, material characterization and modeling, and simulating forming processes.

Her success has been recognized with numerous awards including the 2013 Leibniz Prize which is considered the most prestigious German research award. Other honors include the the DFG Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize (2004), the VDI Ring of Honor and the Cramer Klett Prize, the Otto Kienzle Commemorative Coin of the Scientific Society for Production Technology (2007), and SAE’s Sydney H. Melbourne Award.

In the last decade, Dr. Merklein's scientific work has led to many ground-breaking insights in advanced material characterization and forming. A major focus of Dr. Merklein's research includes the development of robust and flexible manufacturing processes by pioneering methods to combine sheet forming processes with bulk forming processes – an innovation which led to the Leibniz Prize. She also developed a new evaluation method for general forming limit diagrams, the first temperature-dependent forming limit diagrams and yield loci in a proprietary, patented testing machine. Her research also analyzed the flow characteristics in innovative experimental assemblies and its simulation with materials that are used in press hardening processes.